Observed twin stars that end up as a supernova – ElTiempo.com

A team of astronomers has identified two stars very close to each other, which are expected slowly approaching more and when fused, in the future, create a runaway thermonuclear explosion will end as a supernova .

According to a study published in the journal ‘Nature’, these two stars are located in the heart of the planetary nebula Henize 2-428 and observation has been made possible by the VLT (Very Large Telescope) of the European Southern Observatory (Chile) and telescopes in the Canary Islands (Spain).

The stars, whose surfaces are separated approximately half a million kilometers, orbit each other and hoped the two go slowly approaching more and when merging, within 700 million years , will have enough material to start a huge supernova explosion.

In the study, which are co-authors the Spanish Miguel Santander-Garcia, National Astronomical Observatory and the Institute of Materials Science of Madrid (CSIC) and the very close and with a total mass of about 1.8 times the mass of the sun. <- belgian henri boffin, from eso, a pair of white dwarf stars -restos stellar very small and extremely dense found / p>

This is the most massive pair of this type found so far as these two stars merge in the future will create a runaway thermonuclear explosion that end as a Type Ia supernova (this type of supernova occurs when a white dwarf star acquires additional mass by accretion from a stellar companion or merging with another white dwarf).

“Supernovae of this type are vital to measure distances -in the Universe and have been for the discovery of dark energy. The better we understand how they form, better fine tune several of these issues. In short, involves putting a small piece in the puzzle of science, trying to understand the universe around us and in that sense is very rewarding, “Santander-Garcia said.

The scientists discovered this phenomenon when trying to figure out how some stars produce asymmetric oddly shaped nebulae in the last stages of their lives. An object was studying the unusual planetary nebula Henize 2-428 , according to the European Southern Observatory (ESO).

“When we look at the central star of this object with the VLT will find not one but two stars in the heart of this bright cloud strangely twisted” explained Henri Boffin. The researchers found more things and subsequent observations made with telescopes in the Canary Islands (Spain) allowed them to determine the orbit of the two stars and derive both their masses and the distance that separates them.

“That’s when we got the biggest surprise,” said Romano Corradi, the Institute of Astrophysics of the Canary Islands. They found that each star has a slightly less massive than the Sun and are mutually orbiting every four hours.

are close enough from each other so that, according to Einstein’s theory of general relativity, go closer and closer, growing spiral due to the emission of gravitational waves, before finishing merging into a single star, according to the ESO.

The resulting star will be so massive that nothing can prevent it from collapsing on itself and then explodes as a supernova.

EFE (MADRID)